A very warm welcome to Willow class. We are the Foundation 1 Class and our class offers a range of sessions to suit your child’s needs. We offer morning sessions where the children can attend from 8:30-11:30 am and afternoon sessions that are from 12:10-3:10. During this time the children will receive a healthy snack and a drink of milk or water. Water is readily available for all children throughout the sessions. Willow Class also offers full day sessions where the children can attend from 9:00-3:00pm. Children attending these sessions are welcome to bring in a packed lunch or order a hot meal for lunch from our kitchen.
We are very lucky to be led by not one but two qualified teachers and 3 experienced and committed Teaching Assistants. Miss Mitchell is the teacher in the room every day and we are fortunate to be joined by experienced teacher Mrs Russell 2 days a week. Mrs Turner, Mrs Kirwan and Miss Smith are our fantastic Teaching Assistants. When your child joins Willow Class they will be given a Key Person. This person who will complete observations and upload Tapestry Pictures (our online learning journal), each week of your child. They will plan with Miss Mitchell to ensure that each child can reach their full potential. We are a welcoming and supportive team; we are always on hand should any issues arise that you may need our support with any questions that you may want to ask.
We always start our sessions by welcoming each other and promoting discussions such as news from home, the weather and counting how many children are present. All these things help to prepare the children for school. Also, during this short morning/afternoon input, Miss Mitchell will plan a group activity which could be based around one of our core texts. Throughout the day the children will have time in their Key Worker groups to do planned activities that meet the needs of the children. Children learn through play and continuous provision is a large part of our day. We have several permanent areas of provision: Role Play, Small world and Construction, Expressive arts and design area, Sand and Water, Reading Corner and Fine Motor area. These areas are available each day but will be provided with different resources to enhance them based on the children’s interests. Where possible, we try and use as many natural material resources as we can as this helps to spark the children’s curiosity and imagination. All resources chosen are used to promote discussion and the children’s communication skills.
In Willow Class we love spending time outside and using this as an extension of our learning environment. We are fortunate to have such a large outdoor area directly outside our class which we share with Oak Class. In the garden there are opportunities for climbing and balancing on our new climbing equipment which helps our gross motor skills, as well as exploring our mud kitchen, water area and enormous sand pit! We have areas where we can express ourselves and the children love to perform on our stage with the costumes and instruments, mark make using different media or simply sit and enjoy a story outdoors. We love to get messy outside and be able to fully explore on a large scale. Having a change of clothes in your bag is always handy!
In Willow Class, we pride ourselves on being welcoming and inclusive to all the children in our class. We adapt our planning on the spot if it is not engaging and following the children’s interests. The children are at the forefront of all we do and providing them with a happy, safe and secure environment is paramount to us all. We very much look forward to welcoming you into our class soon.
